Palm House
Let the glasshouses take you on a journey of discovery through the world of plants. In our ten landscaped environments you will find plants that have adapted to a variety of different growing conditions, from rainforests to deserts.
The plants on display in the Glasshouses only represent about 1% of all known species of flowering plants, cycads and ferns! Botanists continue to discover more new species every year, but we are still a long way from knowing how many plants there are in the world. What is certain is that thousands of species are now in danger of becoming extinct, many before they are even discovered.
Find out more about this wonderful plant collection as you follow the Glasshouse Trail…
Main Glasshouse Range
The radical design of the main range of glasshouses, opened in 1967, has been hailed as one of the most innovative in the 20th Century.
Temperate Lands House
Along the walkway and in the glasshouse below it, are plants from Mediterranean climates all over the world. In this area you will find plants from the Southern Europe, Western Australia, California, South Africa and some parts of South America.
Lowland Tropics House
The plants on display in this house are from the same geographical region as the Montane Tropics House (South-East Asia). This wet-warm habitat has driven the huge diversity of plants which can be found in this region.
Montane Tropics House
Holding collections from the mountain regions of South-East Asia (Borneo to Indonesia and the island of New Guinea) this house showcases one of the long term research groups – the Vireya Rhododendrons.
Arid Lands House
This house displays some of the adaptations plants have made to the prolonged droughts and extreme temperatures of the desert regions across the world.
Rainforest Riches House
As you walk in to this house you are greeted by the heat and humidity of a South American rainforest, one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet.
Plants and People House
Whilst the tropical plants in this house may be unfamiliar, the products produced from them are part of your daily life.
Ferns and Fossils House
Get transported back through time to when dinosaurs ruled the earth. The ferns, horsetails, mosses, liverworts and conifers on display in this house are among the most ancient groups of plants having been around for over 350 million years.
Orchids and Cycads House
Here you will find plants from the opposite ends of the evolutionary scale. At the one end we have the primitive cycads, whilst at the other are orchids, some of the most sophisticated groups of plants.
Tropical Palm House
This is the oldest of the glasshouses, built in 1834, at the time it was largest of its kind in Britain.